After ten years of marriage, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow have announced they are to bring their marriage to an end. They have stated that over the past year they have been working hard to live some of it together and some of it apart. They have now worked out that they are not to be together as a couple but they will remain as a family. They go on to say that they still love each other and in some respects are closer than ever.

What do you think of this statement? I personally think if they do manage to get along and still spend time as a family with their children then this is admirable. Many people may argue that if this arrangement was for the sake of their children then maybe they should have stayed together for the sake of them. I disagree with this stance. Children know when their parents are happy. Children benefit much more from two happy parents than spending time in one miserable and unhappy home.

I hope this arrangement works out for them. I would have given anything for things to have been amicable between my ex (father to my children) and I. It was never a possibility for me as my ex did not even wish to communicate with me for the sake of my children, never mind spend time as a family.

Good luck to them, I say! And for those that say ‘what a shame’ and ‘no one seems to last long these days’ I would respond with this: Ten years of marriage is admirable, it is a long time in anyone’s life, around one eighth or so. To commit to a person for this amount of time is in itself an achievement. Not much lasts forever, it is not the way of life, everything changes and evolves. People also change, we are not immune to this. If one changes and becomes so different to the other, it is unusual for them to break away and find a place they feel they fit, with another or others they feel at home with and where they belong. Life is too short to be unhappy. To be happy is not a selfish act. To remain in a unhealthy relationship or situation is a tragedy and a waste of the life you have been given.